A couple of third issue reviews this week, as we look at the third issue of the new Nightwing and Justice League series.

Nightwing 3
Written by Tim Seeley 
Art by Javier Fernandez 

I was concerned that the whole of Nightwing’s world would be him fighting the Parliament of Owls from within, trying to take down the New 52 big bad from within, but I have some hope that this is just an opening gambit storyline after the third issue. The story actually advanced a lot further in this issue than I was expecting.

Nightwing and his newly-assigned Owl partner, Raptor, head off to take care of a man who has blueprints of the Parliament’s headquarters, which essentially means killing him so one less person knows the Owls’ secrets. When they get there, Batgirl is on scene, wondering what happened to Nightwing, and after being disappointed in what Grayson has to say, decides to tag along on the mission.

By the end of the issue, it’s clear that everything we learned in the previous issue was tossed on its ear, although Batgirl is still pretty miffed with Nightwing, so I assume that will continue to play itself out over in all the books where the pair show up now.

Turning the tables on the story this issue was an intriguing way to go, so I’m looking forward to seeing what Seeley has in store for Nightwing and Raptor next issue.

Justice League 3
Written by Bryan Hitch
Pencils by Tony S. Daniel
Inks by Sandu Florea

I really do miss the days when Grant Morrison or Mark Waid – or even Geoff Johns – was writing the Justice League. Under those writers, every issue felt important and no issue ever felt like it was just biding time until the next important story beat was going to hit. Ironically enough, when Waid wrote JLA after Morrison’s run, Hitch was the artist.

But Hitch seems to be writing the same way that he draws, with big, swooping broad strokes that make whole issues seem like double-page spreads. There was very little advancement in the third issue of Justice League, basically reshuffling the players into different positions for the next act. But it was 22 pages where there was very little action.

We do get to see YET ANOTHER scene of the pre-Flashpoint Clark and Lois discussing whether or not Clark should resume being Superman publicly, I’m guessing to add some pathos, but it’s a scene we’ve seen way too much already. Clark is back to being Superman, Lois seems to be OK with it now and they’re also training their son to be a superhero. I’m definitely a little sick of all of the backtracking and revisiting moments.

I don’t really see Bryan Hitch changing his ways or expanding the scope of the upcoming issues, so I’m guessing we’re stuck with a popcorn Justice League for the time being.